As part of the milestone 75th anniversary year, the Stella Adler Studio of Acting is launching a refreshed visual identity to help communicate its mission, uniting its world-class programs and inviting new voices into the community.
The Studio has experienced significant growth and expansion since the prior logo was designed in 2001. Graphic Designer Casey Morris states, “With this rebrand, we aim to build more unity between our New York and Los Angeles studios, as well as our evolving cultural center at 65 Broadway, the Stella Adler Center for the Arts.”
She adds, “The design choices were made to reinforce our humanity-focused mission and the Studio’s core beliefs. We want to actively invite in our community, conveying that we value excellence without exclusivity, rigor without rigidity, and transformational art and culture for anyone and everyone.” The Stella Adler Center for the Arts is home to the Studio’s tuition-based offerings, the Arts Justice Division’s free educational experiences for severely underserved populations, and nine distinct branches of diverse cultural programming. To create a brand identity for both studios and the Center that complements this vast range of programs, the uptown-meets-downtown energy of New York was a perfect starting point to visually capture the spirit of the entire organization.
- From architectural landmarks to hand-painted storefront signs, the look and feel of the brand evolved from an eclectic collection of imagery. The attempt was to create a timeless identity by making it “time-filled,” with visual connections to key points and influences in the Studio’s history, including:
- Ancient Greece & Rome, where the Studio acting tradition finds its roots,
- The Yiddish Theater, which Jacob Adler helped establish in America,
- Early 20th-century Manhattan, where Stella Adler and Harold Clurman refined their craft and found their artistry,
- And present-day New York and Los Angeles, and the thousands of unique stories that pass through the Studio’s hallways each year.
Design elements were carefully chosen to enhance the brand’s personality without losing recognizability. The redesigned logo was created with the Trajan Sans typeface, a sans-serif counterpart to the prior logo’s Trajan. The font was chosen for a fresh take on historic lettering styles, to connect the brand’s time-filled influences while maintaining a modern feel. The new type suite also includes bold weights of Futura, an early 20th-century typeface that has become timeless itself, and Specter, a contemporary sans-serif inspired by the same era. These typography guidelines will connect the Studio with every branch of the Center for the Arts.
The new color scheme keeps the Studio’s signature “Adler Red” at the center, a passionate and warm color strongly associated with the brand. Additional accent colors include warm analogous tones and cool neutral shades, evoking both West Coast sunsets and East Coast industrial architecture. The broad color palette will support a variety of poster imagery for the Studio’s Professional Conservatory productions and many other live events at the Center for the Arts.
At the center of the visual identity is an overlapping-A emblem. Combining two A’s into one creates symmetry in the Stella/Adler logo and ties “Art of Acting” into the brand. The image of one A collapsing as another rises out of it evokes the transformations experienced by students, audience members, and participating artists. The shape also hints at a guiding star, symbolizing progress towards a unifying mission (“Stella” is also Latin for “star”). This symbol will be shared between the two acting studios (Stella Adler Studio and Art of Acting Studio) and the Stella Adler Center for the Arts.
“We are thrilled to introduce our new logo as part of our ongoing efforts to enhance the Stella Adler Studio and Art of Acting Studio joint brand” said Director of Marketing Ryan Chittaphong. “This new branding reflects our dedication to providing exceptional artistic excellence while embracing the evolving needs of our community and digital landscape.” The new logo will be gradually rolled out across all of the Studio’s materials, including its website, social media profiles, and marketing materials. The Studio invites its students, alumni, and the community at large to join in celebrating this exciting milestone to kick off the anniversary year.
Stay tuned for additional 75th Anniversary events and programming announcements.
